Several months back, I had quietly left without saying a formal goodbye and I wanted to take the time to do that now. I apologize to those I have left hanging on threads. And more importantly, I apologize for disappearing without having said much of anything.

As far as excuses go, nothing majorly traumatic or life-changing went on. Rather, several members have been pretty hostile to me during my time at afw. In my time here, I've been lied to, ignored, berated, talked down to, called names, …

It was a funny thing to think of right now, but Valley was reasonably certain she hadn't gone an entire month as an active wrestler without being put in a Boston Crab at least once. It even happened a few weeks ago, against the towering Claire Beaumont. She was bigger than Natasha, and you would think that her hold would be stronger, too.

Not the case. It was hard to really say, but Valley was pretty sure that Natasha Han had the more powerful Boston Crab. She bent the leg with incredible force and brought it all the way to the limit, filling her leg with so much pain that Valley couldn't even feel her toes wiggle anymore. She couldn't even tell what exactly was hurting. There was just pain and more pain and even more after than.

"No!" She came back at Natasha with that short retort and waved the referee away as she came to check in. The fans were on their feet, clapping and stomping, egging her on, getting her to push harder and harder. She crawled. She crawled as hard as she'd ever crawled for anything. So close, the ropes were right there..

"Not done yet..." She shot her hand out and tried to grab hold of the bottom rope. "Not done yet!"

"Submit!" Natasha barked at Valley, her body straining as she pulled back further on the blonde's leg, trying to put as much pressure into the Boston Crab as she could manage. With every bit of strength she could muster, Natasha pulled back on that long leg, cranking it back almost like her life depended on it!

(Which, if someone had asked Natasha, she probably would have said that it did.)

She thought she had Valley. She was holding on so tight, and the Slamazon looked like she in so much pain. This had to be it. The Russian had convinced herself that she was going to get a submission from Valley right here and right now. She clenched the woman's leg tighter, gritting her teeth as she maintained her position, waiting for the inevitable ending...

But, as if out of nowhere, Valley began to slowly pull herself towards the ropes. Somewhere, somehow, the buxom blonde had found the strength and energy to try for her escape. It was slow, one slow little bit at a time, but Valley began to make her way to the ropes. Not for the first time since the match had began, panic began to cross Natasha's face, the Wrestle Angel desperately trying to yank the woman's leg back harder, trying to halt her progress.

It was unfortunate for Natasha, then, that Valley's hand suddenly shot outwards, latching onto the bottom rope. The moment it made contact, the referee slid around to Natasha, yelling at the Russian to release her hold on Valley's leg. Natasha complied, of course, but she obviously wasn't happy about it, slinging the blonde's leg towards the mat, then angrily stomping away from her. She threw her arms up in frustration, letting out an annoyed cry, then turned back towards Valley, crouching down and waiting for her to get up.

Valley swore, she had never been so happy to grab hold of a rope in her entire life. She could almost cry , and it wasn't just because of the excruciating pain.

Natasha was vigourous and determined, but she was also a professional, so when the referee told her to let go, she let go, whereas other girls would have just cranked the hold, forced the count, and milked it for every ounce of pain they could get. What was more, Natasha didn't immediately follow up on the hold. Valley was expecting an elbow drop or a sleeperhold or something to take advantage of her prone body, but no, Natasha was holding back. Likely setting her up for a move that was even nastier than all those things combined. Even so, the reprieve was appreciated, and she made full use of it.

She made note of that, and she'd be sure to return the notion of fair play if it came up. Valley also made note of how frustrated Natasha sounded, and she hated to say she was glad on that. If she couldn't hurt her physically, she'd settle for mentally.

Valley kept her hold on the ropes and started to pull herself up, hissing as her back ached and her legs radiated with pain. She pulled herself up to the middle rope, then the top rope, standing as best she could with their support. She turned around to see what Natasha had in store for her, and she just had to hope she could do something in time to stop whatever was coming...

Natasha stood there in her ready position, patiently waiting for Valley to rise up. Her breath was quick, the Russian anxious as she watched the Slamazon's movements carefully, waiting for the woman to get back up onto her feet. She was willing to back off, and to give the blonde a fair chance to get back up on her feet. She wasn't going to play dirty or anything like many of the other girls in the company would do.

But the moment Valley rose back up and was standing again, all bets were off. As soon as the Slamazon stood back up and turned to face her, Natasha exploded towards the woman.

Part of it was desperation, the desperate need of the Wrestle Angel to get keep this match in her favor. Part of it was a second wind, a small reserve of energy that Natasha was counting on to help her keep up her pressure on Valley. Part of it was her frustration, the Russian wanting to put her down and keep her down. It was a lot of things, a lot of things adding up into one huge movement from the Russian. She exploded towards Valley, like a bullet being fired from a revolver, and her arm flew up, sticking out towards the side. It immediately went stiff, like an iron bar, as Natasha tried to slam the limb against her foe with a hard, huge clothesline, aimed straight for the upper part of her chest!

Valley had expected Natasha to come at her as soon as she was up. It would've been a real surprise if that didn't happen and she'd just hung back for some inexplicable reason.

She had to say, though, that she didn't think Natasha would be coming quite so fast. And if you didn't believe that, all you had to do was look at her widened eyes or hear her paniced voice. "Jesus-"

She'd have to remember to do a hail mary for that one later, perhaps after her head stopped throbbing form Natasha's insane attack. It was a clothesline, but Valley didn't want to call it that. Clotheslines hurt, but not this much, didn't have this much impact. This felt a lot more like a lariat, and it sure had the power of one behind it. Valley was sent flipping over the ropes and went tumbling down to the floor, doing a full rotation before she came down on her feet. She instantly crumbled and fell to her back, landing hard with her hair splayed all about, but she was glad not to come down on her head. It sucked, but it could have sucked tremendously more with a little bad positioning.

At least the crowd was happy. They were cheering like crazy, and that last hit would probably be showing up on YouTube tonight.

Natasha hit Valley at full speed, her arm slamming stiffly into the woman's chest. Over the top ropes Valley went, dropping to the floor below, but it was hardly a cause for celebration for the Russian. In any other match, she would have been pleased with the hit, proud of herself for it, but there was a slight problem, just one tiny little issue.

Natasha wasn't in the best shape at the moment. Valley had already put her through the ringer in this match, and Natasha still hadn't fully recovered from the blonde's assault and attacks. In fact, pushing herself so hard with the Boston crab and the explosive clothesline had only made things worse for her. She had pushed herself just a little too far, and now she was paying for it. When her arm slammed into Valley, the Russian kept moving, unable to stop her own momentum.

As the Slamazon went over the ropes, Natasha was right behind her. The Wrestle Angel tumbled over the ropes after her, doing a rotation of her own as she fell towards the floor. Her head slammed against the apron as she went down, summoning a loud, pain-filled cry from the Russian's lips, before she reached the ground, landing in a messy heap atop of Valley's body.

She groaned softly and weakly as she hit the Slamazon, lying atop of her fit, athletic body. Natasha's head was turned to the side, her face pressing down against the blonde's bare belly. Her legs dropped down beside of Valley's own face, one of them pushing slightly against the woman's head. Her arms fell out in awkward directions, one of them lying against one of the Slamazon's legs, while the other spread out to the side of her own body. The crowd, naturally, went nuts, starting to cheer and yell at the two women, two fighters lying in a messy, sweat-covered heap outside of the ring. They weren't sure about Valley yet, but Natasha seemed out of it, the Russian still and unmoving atop of the Slamazon.

There was a moment, just a brief fraction of a second, where Valley thought she'd be okay after the crash. Smacking down on the outside of the ring wasn't pleasant, but she'd been through worse things in her career. Powerbombed through a table, chokeslammed off a ladder, piledriven onto a chair, and those were just the examples that came to mind while her brain wasn't working properly. This would make the top twenty in her list of nastiest falls, but just barely.

That was, of course, until a 140 pound Russian with a body like chiseled stone fell on top of her. A hit like that was enough to bring it into the top ten, easy.

She yelped as Natasha crashed on top of her, landing on of the most awkward positions imaginable and driving the wind clear from her lungs. Natasha wasn't the heaviest girl in the AFW, but she was far from the lightest, and Valley wanted her off as soon as possible.

"1...!"

Oh, and there was the referee's count to worry about, too. God, she hated the count-out rule.

Valley wasn't exactly sure why Natasha seemed to be hurting so much - from the way she was laying there, you would've though they'd both taken a clothesline out of the ring. Whatever the cause, though, she wouldn't dream of complaining about it. It was just the break she needed, and she planned to exploit it to the fullest.

She started to push Natasha's body off of her, feebly wriggling her way out as the Russian's breath steamed up her stomach. It took a little doing, but she managed to get free, and Valley rolled her way to the barricade as quickly as she could. Which turned out to not be very quick at all.

"2...!"

Valley grabbed the bar and started pulling herself up, as the fans patted away at her back. They never seemed to realize how annoying that was. Valley simply groaned and managed to get her feet flat on the ground once again. If she could do it, that probably meant that Natasha had done the same, and she looked over her shoulder fully expecting to see the Russian back up and ready for more.

Natasha's body slumped to the side as Valley pushed her off of herself, lying there in a messy pile as the Slamazon rolled away. It may have looked like Natasha was out of things, but inwardly she was wide awake, mentally berating herself for the last few minutes of the match.

Stupid! She thought to herself, angry for her reckless actions and her dangerous attempts at keeping the pressure on Valley. Stupid stupid stupid! She had become so desperate to win this, so desperate to prove to herself that she could still win, that she had let her emotions get the best of her. She had forgotten her training, forgotten what she had been taught, and now she was paying for it.

STUPID! Get back up!

"3..!"

The sound of the nearby crowd cheering for Valley was enough to bring Natasha back to reality, their yells and cheers as the fan-favorite blonde began to get back up echoing in the Russian's ears. She knew she needed to move now, before it was too late, before Valley came after her again.

Natasha rolled onto her belly, and began to push herself up, forcing her way to her hands and knees. It was slow going, but she was making progress, shaking her head to finish clearing out her cobwebs as she continued to rise. Slowly but surely, she started to push herself up to her feet, reaching out to grab the ring for support, while turning her head to the side to look towards Valley, keeping a careful eye on her foe as she struggled to stand.

Yup, sure enough, Natasha was back up and she looked ready for another serving. Like a Russian Energizer Bunny. She just kept going and going and going. "Oh, come on..."

Valley pushed off the barricade and started to make her way towards Natasha, moving on wobbly legs, still feeling the effects of that fierce Boston Crab. It limited her options a bit. Maybe she could rattle off a few low kicks, but highs were right out. That meant she'd have to rely on her fists for the time being. That was a problem. She was many things, but a brawler was not one of them. She was at her best inside the ring. That was where all the magic happened. Outside, she just had her kicks when it came to melee, and her aerial moves became exponentially riskier. Even though she was wearing grappling gloves with padding, they were mostly for show. Valley rarely punched people.

Well, today Valley was getting her money out of the gloves, because that was exactly what she was going for. If brawling was all she had to throw at Natasha right now, brawling was what she'd go for.

"5...!"

As soon as Valley was close enough, she brought her fists up, assumed the best boxing stance she could muster, and threw out a right cross towards Natasha's face, putting as much muscle into the blow as she could. "Go down!"

Natasha leaned against the ring, watching as Valley began to move towards her. It was too soon, far too soon for the Russian. She wasn't ready yet, she wasn't finished recovering enough to face Valley head-on yet. The Slamazon wasn't giving her a choice though, so if she wanted to fight, then Natasha was going to give her a fight.

She pushed herself off of the ring, and started to make her own way towards Valley. As she drew nearer to the blonde, she let out a shout, and drew back her arm, intending on bringing her own punch back towards the Slamazon. Unfortunately for the Wrestle Angel though, she was just a bit too slow, and Valley just a bit too fast for her.

Valley's right cross made it's mark, the woman's fist slamming against Natasha's face. The Russian's head snapped backwards, and she stumbled back away from Valley, back towards the ring, where she stood for a brief second, trying to shake off the sudden blow.

"6..!"

The sound of the count hit Natasha's ears, almost like it was urging her onwards. The mighty Russian forced herself back away from the ring, lunging shakily towards Valley, and once more her arm drew backwards, as she snapped off a wide right hook towards the Slamazon's face.